The Lost Years of Kaede
by ShikonnoTamahater
Summary: Naraku chases after Kaede, believing that she possesses the Sacred Jewel, which is the start of a conflict entirely Kaede's own. After losing her sister, can Kaede, forced into hiding because of a demon species that reads thoughts, afford the loss of any more loved ones? Everyone has secrets they'd prefer to stay hidden, including the boy who owes a debt. -HIATUS UNTIL OCTOBER 2012
1. After a Death

_Summary: What was Kaede's life like after Kikyo died, and before she met Kagome? Disclaimer: You know I am, one of these days… But for now, I don't own InuYasha or these beautiful characters.  
A/N: I was really bored and had no other idea for my first fanfic. So anything's welcome! But you should review… Anything you put in said review is welcome. :D_

_P.S. I am rewriting a fanfic I began around... meh... years ago. I didn't want to change much at first, but I really had to. Many of the original sentences can still be found, but I had to add a ton of detail in to flesh it out. Current A/N's will be in P.S.'s like this. Enjoy!  
_

**The Lost Years of Kaede**

Kaede was in mourning; grief-stricken and half crazed with the endless machinations of her mind. What if? What if she wasn't so young, and could have come to her sister's aid? Sure, she had been there, but she hadn't the power or the experience to really make a difference. But whose fault was that? Kikyo had always tried her best to teach her younger sister. She was just weak, and silly. She had known that being a miko was an important job, as many people placed their faith and lives in their powers over demons, but the time for her to become a fully-fledged miko had always seemed so far away, and her sister was so awe-inspiring. Her sister was there to protect her, always. Kaede had known that for as long as she could remember. So she was never as serious with her training as she should've been. If she had, could she have saved her sister? Those questions didn't matter; they weren't fair. She knew that, but it didn't stop her from continuing to ask. Her sister had died, and though she had done everything the miko had asked before she died, Kaede wasn't sure if she was able to become a Shrine Priestess quite yet. The village was safe for now, due to her sister's long-fought battle with demons intent on securing the Sacred Jewel for their own nefarious ends, but Kaede had to train if she wanted to be sure in her abilities to protect her village for the long term. How… How could he have done that? InuYasha… Though the dog had ultimately betrayed them, the combined power of the demon and her sister during their truce was enough that no foul creature dared come near the village. The closest thing with demonic blood, the aforementioned backstabber, was sealed in the forest, anchored to a tree in seemingly eternal slumber. Everything was safe, for now, since word had been sent out to all the lands that the Shikon had been taken into the underworld, though Kikyo's death had been kept secret. Kaede, determined to learn like she never had with her sister, knew she was physically too young to travel far enough away where rumors of the jewel hadn't spread very far. Kaede called out for help in protecting the village, and a nearby priestess took care of the most major disasters on a monthly basis. Three years had passed before most of the dangers surrounding Kaede and the Shikon jewel died down, and for Kaede to be strong enough for arduous travel. Leaving most of what she had always known behind, she allowed herself to travel to the sister of this priestess in order to train in the ways of being a miko.

**Three More Years Later**

Blood!

That's all Kaede could see after the dream so abruptly ended. Her sister's blood, pouring out... Even in a dream, even after so much time had passed, that was so real… Her heavy breathing choked her as she fought to get air into her lungs. Her heart was thumping, echoing in her ears…

And her sister's heart was beating as it had before! Erratically, without pattern, a dying heart frantic to survive and continue functioning, as no cog in the machine considers the possibility of failure until it happens. The blood was so real, she could feel, taste, smell, and hear it pumping out as realistically as she could see it splattered around the walls of the small cottage she was lying in.

'That's right, think of the here and now, not blood. Not the owner of that bloo—' No, she mustn't think of Kikyo. It would cloud her mind for days, and that would affect her training.

Kaede couldn't even think of herself as such! It was complicated, but many demons heard thought instead of words in this region, and thinking of her true name would be like shouting Ki… her sister's name across a valley and not expecting to find herself a target for every predator in said valley. Many demons would still be after the jewel, even now, not knowing or perhaps not caring that the jewel was safe in the afterlife. Well, maybe "not caring" wasn't the right term.

Demons often had odd thought processes and could either think that the truth was a rumor concocted in order to alleviate would-be thefts, or that if a miko possessed one such object of power then it followed that she may have another. There was also taking into consideration the fact that, as the sister of such a powerful priestess, taking her out would substantially raise a demon's prestige. She may not have come into her powers yet, but any such elimination would be considered a presumptive strike, and one well warranted.

It was for these thought-reading demons that such care had to be taken. Kaede had to temporarily think of herself as Sayuri. She had to think of her name and identity as this young "Sayuri" at all times, no matter how safe or remote their location may be. All this care with names was taken mainly for Sakura, the miko who was continuing Sayuri's training.

A demon had attacked Sakura many years before, leaving her blind in both eyes. She had recovered most of her sight, unlike Sayuri's lost eye, but it left her very vulnerable due to her loss in depth perception. She didn't want harm to come to Sakura, especially if it were the byproduct of some demon's plan to gain power with the nonexistent Shikon. She would kill herself if anyone else got hurt because of her, or even what she thought was because of her.

"Wahhhh…." moaned Sakura, just waking up. "Sayuri, go gather firewood while I prepare our morning meal."

"Yes, Sakura-sensei," Sayuri agreed. She wanted to get active, get free of this suffocating nightmare. For that's what the dream was: a nightmare that didn't end when Sayuri woke. Shaking her head of the mess, she stood and folded her bedroll as Sakura did the same next to her.

They both piled them in a corner of the room, underneath a chair meant for the rare guest that occasionally made their way to the cottage, looking for the help and healing only a trained miko could give. As Sakura stoked the embers burning dully in the center of the cottage's fire pit, Sayuri braced herself for the slight chill the morning was sure to carry outside of the cozy, one-roomed home.

Sliding open the paneling, she found her suspicions to be correct. She quickly shut the door to spare Sakura the same fate, and reveled in the smarting, waking glory the brisk air smacked across her face.

Following a thin trail away from the cottage, Sayuri looked for the pile of wood she had stacked underneath a small tree, in order to spare it from any rains that may have come overnight. She had been tired after yesterday's training, and Sakura had allowed her student to take the small shortcut, though warning her that if the dew had soaked into the wood too much, their hunger would be on her head.

How was she to know that she was being watched by none other than Naraku, wanting to get his hands on the Shikon jewel? The amazing jewel which he had once worked so hard to try tainting with malice.

"Go and destroy the young miko-in-training," Naraku demanded, speaking to the serpentine demons he had taken control of. "Do not dare return without the Shikon jewel." The serpents, bound to his orders until death or destruction, quickly dissipated from view and traveled; in the way snakes do, nearly instantly to their target.

The pair slowly slithered towards their prey, tasting the air with their delicate tongues. They blended into the forest and had long since cloaked their presence, and so they wove a trap around the teenaged girl with their long, undulating bodies.

Unaware of the danger, Sayuri bent over and inspected the wood. "This firewood is just dry enough to use without putting out sparks," Tenten said aloud, sighing out an audible breath of relief. At some unseen cue, one of the snake demons raised it long, lithe body behind her, and bit deeply into her, injecting all of its venom.

_A/N: I know I shouldn't leave it right here, but I don't know where else to go with it. Don't forget to R and R (read and review!). Yes, I know it's really weird. I just like it when people are out of character (OOC). I'm sorry that this chapter is so short. I can't help it._


	2. Turmoil at Naraku's Castle

_Disclaimer: These characters are the product of Takahashi-sensei's glorious mind. They are hers and her related affiliates. I own nothing but the contents of my twisted imaginings.  
Still without review, but I shall update regardless.  
The recap is never identical to the chapter it was taken from._

The Lost Years of Kaede

Recap: "Go and destroy the young miko-in-training. Do not dare return without the Shikon Jewel."

"This wood is just dry enough to use without putting out sparks," Tenten said, unaware of the danger she was in.

One of the snake-demons bit her, injecting all of its venom.

"Ahhh!" Sayuri cried as the demon bit her. She could feel the poison in her veins, and knew that it was slowly ending her life, heartbeat by heartbeat ticking by her. Her thoughts ran out to her sister, as the suddenly loud, suddenly precious rhythm reminded the miko-in-training of Kikyo's last moments. Suddenly ashamed of betraying her sister by thinking of her, Sayuri screamed in rage and fear, the noise echoing off the trees and down the path to the cottage.

Inside, Sakura heard the yell and recognized her young charge's voice from it. Hastily abandoning the green shoots she had been chopping up as a garnish, she stood and grabbed the ever-present bow lying next to her.

She followed the path to the location she had pinpointed from the yell. After so many years of being nearly blind, her ears and memory had compensated by becoming extremely sharp. The only danger that ever presented itself is if someone moved the scant furniture in the cottage around without her knowledge.

In the time it had taken her to find Sayuri's location, the other snake demon had separated itself into multiple, smaller copies of itself, and had entwined itself in a semi-circle around the writhing struggle of girl and demon. Sayuri was desperately pulling at the serpent coiled around her neck, not realizing the creature was only waiting for the venom to force her to pass out. "Get… The shhhhhard…" several pieces of the divided snake hissed.

Not hearing this exchange, and unable to grasp the diluted image her eyes were showing her, Sakura slowly approached the mass. "What—Oh my goodness! Why are you surrounded by so many demons?" Sakura asked, seeing the multitude of worms and misinterpreting them as separate beasts.

"Get this effing snake off of me!" Sayuri yelled through the suffocating weight of her living necklace. "This one's poisoned me!"

"Poisoned? Sayuri, don't say such odd things. This type of demon doesn't have poison, only venom," Sakura said, without any apparent concern for her charge's well being.

"Whatever! Just—mmph!" the teenager cried, cut off by a particularly strong squeeze. "… help me," she gasped out after pulling a coil far enough away from her vocal cords, finishing her interrupted sentence.

Sakura surveyed the situation coolly. The snake demons were weak, though it was odd that they were attacking only Sayuri. The priestess dismissed this as irrelevant, and deemed the threat minimal enough for the girl to handle on her own. "No, this is perfect miko-training. Would you like my bow?"

"They're after the fucking jewel!" Sayuri cursed, shocking her teacher into reconsidering her stance.

"They are? Are you sure? Then I must help you." Sakura had to give in. If these demons were power hungry enough to attack a girl this far into the wilderness, away from their homeland, they would stop at nothing to get the Sacred Jewel. Especially since, considering their own level of strength, they were most likely being manipulated by a stronger being.

Using her own pale green miko powers, Sakura destroyed the complete snake demon clutching Sayuri's neck with an arrow shot from her carefully aimed bow. Sayuri, exhausted from trying to get away from the demon and how it had to shake her body in an attempt to make her fall limp, finally passed out. The venom in her blood had finally taken affect, and with the lack of the demon threat, the adrenaline keeping her awake quickly died down. She slumped to the floor, still surrounded by the second demon's quickly rejoining parts, and the fangs of her original attacker protruding from her neck.

'Damn it, the girl is useless now,' Sakura thought. 'Regardless, I must kill the remaining demons before I can attend to her wounds.' Still not seeing that the many demons were really just one, she pointlessly shot arrows at strategic areas designed to purify as many as possible in a short amount of time. Each arrow, however, missed the crucial serpent holding the heart of the entire beast, making her attacks ineffective.

She never got the chance to tend to Sayuri's wounds, for the wormlike separations she had thought purified surrounded her, and destroyed her bow. They returned to one form, and much like the first serpent had done to Sayuri, it enveloped her body until there was not a trace of human skin left showing, and it teleported away, taking the priestess with it.

The demon had been a weak creature, but it still would have been able to sense the presence of the Shikon. The pair, both the one now purified and the one transporting Sakura away, had been part of a species of demon that could taste the recent possessions of any creature. That was part of the reason why they had been coerced into attacking the girl in the first place. However, neither woman had a hint of that demonic power residing anywhere on their skin. Naraku had warned them not to come back without the jewel, but there was no jewel of any sort to be found on them. He had also claimed to want the girl who possessed the Shikon, his exact words requiring the miko-in-training.

Sayuri had the fangs of the demon's fallen ally still injecting her with poison, and had thus been ignored by the dull creature's primitive senses, as she now read as a demon rather than human despite her miko powers. Sakura, however, had not had the same luck. Merely following orders that it didn't quite understand, the demon had mistakenly taken the wrong priestess.

Sakura was taken to Naraku and dumped rather unceremoniously at his feet. "Masssster Naraku… Thissss miko… Sssssshhhe desssstroyed my brother. I sssssaw her ssssslay him with my own eyesss. Ssssssshe didn't have the jewel. I sssswear," the snake told Naraku.

"Are you not aware, you lack-brain, that this is obviously the wrong girl? This priestess's powers are obviously too finely trained to be learning her trade. She's blind in both eyes, as well. Not just one. You have disappointed me in more ways than one," Naraku spat, displeased with the demon's failure.

Naraku smirked coldly. There was only one fitting punishment for such mistakes.

The serpent saw the mirth in Naraku's eyes and knew what it entailed. The demon twisted itself around and tried to flee, quickly shouting a "Naraku-ssssama, I tried!" but Naraku was too quick. For not retrieving the jewel and thus disobeying his orders, he blasted the lackey with a weak but lethal dose of his poisonous miasma.

Naraku took care to avoid Sakura with his attack; though he was outrageously disappointed at the mix-up, he was slightly comforted at the sight of the miko. The mad susurrations of noise inside his head showed him the ways she could be useful. Naraku smiled harshly, the handsome figure somehow marred by such an inhuman grin. "Come close," he ordered without preamble. "I have plans for you. Come, or I will extinguish your life."

Sakura had to obey. She knew her demons well, both those within and without. This one was not being merely humorous when it said it would kill her. Though the things that it may make her do would most likely be morally repugnant, she had to live in order to train the younger sister of Kikyo. That girl, she could sense, had many things to do before she died. Her future accomplishments were worth any price.

___A/N I'm sorry that this chapter is still rather short. I promise, they will become longer. And hey, since I'm the author, it may turn out that Sayuri/Kaede dies, but is recreated as an empty pot like Kikyo. :3 Gotta love it when canon supports your crazy ideas!_


	3. Where's My Sensei?

_Disclaimer: Everything is all mine! NO! I'm lying. Rumiko Takahashi owns them. For now.  
The recap isn't totally the same…  
P.S. That's really all I have this time, too._

The Lost Years of Kaede

Recap: "Come close. I have plans for you. Come or I will extinguish your life," said Naraku.

"I have to train the young priestess; I cannot die."

_A day and a half later_

_Darkness eating up the light. The sensation of falling, of drowning, and choking. Swimming in air, swimming in mud. But not swimming in water; only swimming in alternating liquids of differing viscosities, and not a single one of them truly fit for swimming in. Something precious being yanked out of her, something that was both hurting and protecting her at the same time. Crying out for it. Aching for the pressure, for the constant life-eating pain to return. A hand on her brow, murmuring encouragement and comfort. A cloth washing her skin, gingerly avoiding her more inappropriate areas. Another cloth, cooler, attacking the same places with gusto conflicting with the personality of the gentle cleansing. Whispers above her head, wondering whether she was going to live, an adamant voice screaming, "She is!" The same circle of whispers growing louder, demanding to know who she was and where she came from, getting nowhere, and finally just asking to let known when she woke. A return to the deeper side of sleep; dreams where her sister—no, don't think her name! —was still alive and they lived in a small but comfortable hut in an equally small but comfortable village together, laughing and smiling and teaching each other. Bringing joy to each other's lives. Sadness at knowing what was to come, what had to come. And not caring. Relishing the moment for as long as it lasted. Her sister left, without blood this time, and she smiled at the young girl, now sixteen, as light emanated from her body. The light faded, and all that was left was darkness. The darkness that had fed on the light. Fear. Then comes light; light different than what surrounded her sister. Darkness surrounded and pushed out by this light, so all that was left was the light…_

"Uhhh… What happened to me? And where am I?" Sayuri woke murmuring, looking around from the bedroll she found herself wrapped in. She appeared to be in a darkened hut more similar to the one she lived in with Kikyo than the cottage she had trained in under Sakura's watch.

'Sakura!' The young girl's mind suddenly burst through the haze of sleep, screaming at her with a sudden jolt of pain. Where was Sakura? Her sensei would never have left her alone like this, not in such a strange place. She'd lived with Sakura-sensei for three years, and they'd only left the immediate forest surrounding the cottage once! Sayuri couldn't remember what exactly had happened, but the fuzziness surrounding the events was clearing, and she couldn't recall her teacher ever bringing her here.

That much was clear.

All of this was processed in the space of a few seconds, during which someone heard her voice, and her question, and entered the bedroom from the adjoining main room.

"I found you in near a densely wooded path after following the sound of a scream. We feared for the lady priestess's life. There were many scorch marks of varying sizes burned into the ground around your unconscious body. I assume those were formerly demons that attacked you while you were gathering wood. You must have put up a good fight, for there was a great amount of demon venom in your system," answered a masculine voice.

Sayuri blinked and turned to the man. He was not much more than a boy, just slightly older than she herself. He had oddly light brown hair, but the kindest eyes she had seen on anybody's face since her sister died. His eyes were as light as his hair, and he was darker than even the oldest, most suntanned field workers. Though he was dark, he didn't seem to have gotten this way by staying out in the sun too long. It was like he was dark and light at the same time, like he could get darker by staying out in the light just a few more hours each day.

She shook her head clear. The man was only slightly attractive. He was actually quite average. There was no reason for her to study him like she did one of Sakura's scrolls on demons! "I did not take out any of those demons; it must have been Sakura-sensei. Did you by any chance see another human body?" Sayuri asked, the flashes of threads in her mind and the story the man was narrating weaving a cloth that showed the truth of what happened.

"No I did not," the man answered simply, without preamble. At this news, Sayuri raised herself to leave, for she had no business being here while her teacher was obviously in trouble. Sakura would never have left her alone in the woods like that, no matter how injured the older woman may be, without someone or something preventing her with force. As she lifted her body, though, a pang gripped her heart and she found herself gulping desperately for air. 'Breathe in. Breathe out. Slowly,' she ordered herself, continuing to rise.

"No!" the man said, coming closer to her and throwing an arm across her body, preventing her from getting up any further. "You mustn't leave! I couldn't take out all the venom, and you can't get up before all of it leaves your body!" he warned. If she got up before she was ready, the girl would probably fall back into sleep, one deeper than before. The girl might not wake up that time.

Sayuri listened, but didn't hear his words. She struggled uselessly against the man's strong bicep, yearning to rise and help her beloved teacher. Seeing her determination, the man used his last resort, and manipulated the truth. "If you do, you will die, and be of no help to your sensei."

Sayuri saw the truth in his statement, having no reason to disbelieve him and knowing that death would prevent coming to Sakura's aid eternally, and she lay back down. Her body, still worn from the fight with the snake demon and now the pain of working the venom out of her, shuddered at the sudden release of tension. Her sense of relief was so great that sleep almost reclaimed her, and Sayuri's eyes were fluttering open and shut.

The man noted this, and decided the girl had had enough sleep for now. Though she was probably a priestess sworn into protecting a village, or at the very least a girl destined for such a fate, she was cute. There was no harm in flirting, now was there? "Now that we have that settled, may I learn your name, fair maiden?"

At this, Sayuri's eyes burst open wide, and she blushed. For better or worse, she was awake now, and was going to stay that way. After taking a moment to gather herself, she replied with as steady a voice as she could manage, "My birth name is Kaede, but I must now go under the name of Sayuri for the safety of others." She didn't know why exactly she had told him her real name, but she knew she could trust him, as he had bandaged her wounds instead of killing her.

Besides, the thought-reading demons that proliferated the area could only read thoughts, not minds. The pair, considering she's never met the man before and the hut they were in was more suited to one of the villages in the valley than in the middle of nowhere, were safe from them. Being weaker than your average human, those demons hardly came this close into civilization. At least for the most part.

"That's a sweet name you have. Both of them are beautiful, actually. Mine is Daisuke." The man, Daisuke, knelt down next to her pallet and smiled at her. Sayuri blushed at his words, glad that the semi-darkness of the room hid her face.

"Please, keep my name a secret. You know about the Listeners, right?" Daisuke nodded. "I'll be in trouble if too many people know and think my real name," Sayuri added.

"Then why'd you tell me it?" Daisuke added with a laugh. The mirth quickly faded from his eyes as he realized what her waking meant. With a sigh he told her, "I will have to inform the village elders of your awakening."

Sayuri echoed his sigh. 'Of course everyone knows where I am, except for me!' "That's perfectly understandable. If I were in your position, I would treat you to the best of my abilities, but be wary of you. There's no shame in being prudent. The dangers that surround this area… They aren't pleasant," Sayuri said, waving her caretaker off. The young man stood looking embarrassed.

"I really don't want to have this suspicion about you," he confided after some inner debate. "You're definitely a miko, even if you're a little weak from lack of experience."

"If it makes you feel any better, I'm a little concerned about you and your elders as well. I don't want to be suspicious of you either, but I must. Especially knowing the weakened state I'm in. But, what do you mean, miko?"

She said it in such a way; Daisuke thought she had taken offense. Frantically, he retracted his last statement with a, "Oh no, I don't mean you're worthless! Or that you're a priestess! I was just saying that not very many _miko _could withstand that much poison!"

Sayuri was about to correct him, and tell him that what she had meant was that she didn't understand how he could've mistaken her for a fully-fledged priestess, when her senses told her there was a presence somewhere outside the hut. Daisuke and her froze at the same time when they heard a knock on the door in the main room.

_I know; this one sucks as a cliffy.  
P.S. Reviews are adored!_


	4. Sakura Lives and Plans!

_Okay, we all know what I'm gonna say:  
I do not own InuYasha! Or anybody else, for that matter…_

The Lost Years of Kaede

Recap: 'If I don't come, I'll be killed. And I must not be killed; I must train Sayuri.'

_Naraku's Castle_

Sakura was pacing around the rather luxurious cage she had been locked into. Contemplations on what had transpired were racing through her head. 'Naraku killed the snake demon for a reason. A disappointment? Ka—Sayuri said the demons were after the Shikon no Tama. He's openly told me he plans on using me, but he could use any other of his stronger, demonic minions, so he probably wants my soul. The soul is the basis of the miko's powers.

'He also must want my body for something. Does he plan on turning me into a demon? If so, then why?' Pacing wasn't cutting it for her anymore. The woman felt her way around for the soft surface she knew was nearby. 'How do I hold onto my life? Is there any way to escape?' These were Sakura's thoughts as she lay in Naraku's bed. It was plush, and weird. It was raised high off of the ground, and had an unfamiliar fabric for sheets. The room was ill lit, so Sakura had to force herself to stay in a confined area as she paced in order to not lose herself in the gloom and size of the makeshift cell.

Naraku had commanded her to stay inside until he came back for her. Of course, she had to comply. He had _almost_ absentmindedly mentioned the fact that the room was guarded at all exits by ravenous demons who were under strict instructions to devour any life forms that left the room before his return. There were no windows to speak of in the room; this she had already stumbled around in search of. She was literally trapped and under the mercy of a foul, terrifying beast's whims, and kept safe only by her guards' fear of that beast.

Demons weren't notorious for remaining fearful for very long.

She decided to take a chance anyways. The room didn't have _everything_ she needed for survival, in any case. "Hello? Anyone close?" she cried out. "I'm hungry…" she finished quite lamely. Not receiving an answer, she returned to the walls of her mind in order to keep her thoughts off of the oppressing weight of the semi-darkness.

'I think he wants to suck up my soul into his body to be used at a later time. This is the only option that makes sense; otherwise there'd be no point in keeping me alive. I have no other connection to the jewel but my pupil. He must want to use me against her somehow by perverting my form and heart, and ordering me to attack her. I must tell Sayuri this, so she will not be shocked if she finds herself battling me in the name of Naraku. Even if I can no longer be her teacher, I can still give her knowledge.'

At this Sakura grinned, knowing that this would be the thing that would give her power over Naraku. Anything she could use as a weapon would be greatly appreciated. If she instilled in herself enough hate of Naraku now, every part of her, no matter how convoluted, would always hate him. 'Naraku will be surprised. If he finds and decides to make a move on the Sacred jewel, he will use my soul. But even if I don't remember who I am, I will be a traitorous minion.'

She would never know that she would never be twisted into a demon; she would instead become one of the first incarnations that Naraku made. The part of that demon that was her soul would be the part that kept fighting Naraku; wanting nothing but her own freedom despite not having a heart. Sakura would be the one known as the wind-witch, Kagura.

_With Naraku_

Naraku was determined to find Kaede. Such a task was obviously not fit for any of the idiots currently serving him. He needed the Shikon jewel at any cost, and that meant finding the girl he had gone to such pains to track down. His desire for the Shikon was simple: he wanted to find a beautiful mate, preferably the one who lay in his bed as he traveled. Perhaps another woman would finally quell the heart of the foolish human who had created him with his own body.

Of course, a human could never become his mate, no matter how beautiful. Humans were weak, as he knew all too well. Her eyesight was already fading, and she was barely into her second decade!

His thoughts thus turned on his prisoner; he began to think about her in earnest. Remembering Onigumo's limitations as a human, Naraku expected she would be getting hungry about now. He dispatched one of the minor demons he kept with him for that purpose with a message to his castle telling his servants, for lack of a better term, to feed his young pet. They were under strict instructions to give her not the most elegant cuisine, but not typical prisoner fare either. These "strict instructions" were buried under orders once again forbidding the miko's death under pain of excruciating disembowelment. That should keep even the feistier of his followers in check until he returned to claim his attractive prize.

Naraku found the wooded area his spies had told him should hold Kikyo's sister's paralyzed body. He commanded the youkai transporting him to carry him down. A quick look around told him that the girl wasn't there.

"Hmmm… It seems that Kaede has moved. But who moved her, I do not know. She couldn't move on her own; there must have been far too much poison in her bloodstream," he said aloud to himself, forgetting that his thoughts could be overheard now that he was out of his territory.

Naraku's eyes, however, found the scorch marks left by Sakura's failed attempt to purify the demon that had eventually kidnapped her. Inhaling deeply, he found a smell that was neither demon nor the woman waiting for him in his room. His human conscience put a name to it; Kikyo. The scent was hers, but not hers. It was undoubtedly Kaede's.

He followed her scent's trail to a village not unlike the one Kikyo had been sworn to protect. The girl's scent lingered around a certain building in particular; obviously the "small" delays that had prevented Naraku from coming earlier had allowed the girl to heal almost completely from her wounds. She was awake, and talking to a man.

Unabashedly, Naraku listened in on the conversation in the hut, but he was too late to hear most of it. The portion he overheard was dull and uninteresting, and did nothing to further educate him about his mark.

From his post in the trees, however, he did manage to spot what appeared to be a group of makeshift messengers approach the humble abode. The leader of the messengers seemed to hesitate at the dwelling's entryway, but eventually gathered up his courage. Naraku watched as the man knocked on the hut's makeshift door, and listened to him as he began to speak.

_Sorry that this is a bit lame. I didn't want to anybody to think that I forgot about Naraku and Sakura. Reviews are welcome, wanted, and replied to most enthusiastically!_


	5. All Is Better, Or Is It?

_The last chapter was not the best, I know. I wonder whom we'll be with now…  
P.S. Recaps are not the same! Reviews, favorites, alerts… Anything is appreciated! :D_

The Lost Years of Kaede

Recap: "You're a miko, though a little weak from lack of training."  
"What do you mean, miko?"  
_Knock-knock  
_'Naraku wants to turn me into a demon. I will be a traitorous minion, even if I do not remember who I am but what he tells me.'  
'I need the Shikon jewel. It's with Kaede.' From his post, he saw a few messengers knock on Kaede's resting place.

_The Hut_

Sayuri turned in fear, hoping that the knocker was a friend of Daisuke's who would in turn be her friend, or at least be someone would not harm her while she was in her weakened state. She could barely lift herself from her bedroll, let alone protect herself while she was this deteriorated. Seeing as he was in his home village, the thought never crossed her mind to worry about her host, for who could be in danger when everything they knew was within a stone's throw?

Daisuke, however, thought differently. He knew precisely what could be outside, and thus was more frightened than Sayuri. They were _both_ in danger. If the village elders found out that he had not come to them immediately when she woke, he could be put to death according to the _de facto_ laws of his community. They could, and would if they were in the mood, do this without bothering to hear his side of the story or Sayuri's. His fate would be would be to await decapitation if put to death, and that was getting off lightly. He didn't even want to think about what they would do to his temporary ward, a mistrusted foreigner. The possibilities were too gruesome for any sane person's description.

Tired of waiting, a voice called out, "We know you're in there, Daisuke," causing his heart to stop and for Sayuri to audibly gasp. As if it were impossible to hear the going-ons inside the hut from the man's position outside the thin door, the voice continued. "We have a message from the elders. They say that the girl is to be trusted. She is sister to no other than the dearly departed Kikyo," the male courtier finished.

Daisuke was in shock upon hearing this. How could this girl, who could be no older than sixteen or seventeen, be Kikyo's sister? Her tales of beauty and miraculous powers in the art of purification were known throughout the village and those surrounding it, as she herself had graced them with her presence once, a long time ago. This girl, no matter how talented, could not be Kikyo's sister. She just couldn't be. Though visually appealing, the girl had nowhere near the exquisiteness Kikyo was purported to have had. And that was just the superficial qualities, before he considered her capabilities as a priestess.

It really just boiled down to the fact that, though she was obviously a powerful miko, there were few reasons for Daisuke to come to the conclusion of her identity being what the council had decided it was. 'It's not my place to say they're wrong, but… The sister of Kikyo would never allow herself to be overpowered like this girl was. Would she?'

Sayuri took the news rather differently. 'How do they know?' she wondered frantically, her thoughts simpler than those of the male beside her, but more extreme as her internal discussions ran the gamut of possibilities with more emotion.

Stunned into silence, locked into their own personal dialogues, the pair quietly sat for a moment in the gloomy sub-room, digesting what had been revealed to all.

_In the Trees_

Naraku saw an opening that he could exploit, and thus gain the miko-in-training he had been vying for in the first place, but he didn't take it. Instead, he planned a course of action that was more pertinent to his preferences. He devised a scenario that would have him turning the entire village against her, making her weaker and much easier prey. This served both his purpose and his ego's requirement for a grand, complex stage in order to completely ruin his enemies. Oh yes, she would be devastated and torn apart by his scheming, and this time she would not have her sensei to save her. It was flawless and very well set out already, and all he had to do was find the right place to drop in and make everything worse.

'Now who shall I…? Yes, yes, of course… That will be brilliant, and the perfect way to do that is…'

Naraku knew exactly what to do and how. Dangerous was he when he did. After all, he had killed Kikyo with this sort of idea. How different would this be?

_At Naraku's Castle_

It was more than she could handle. She was given food and a nice place to sleep; somehow that made her situation worse. Sakura knew that like with all things, the luxuriance wouldn't last. She had known that when Naraku had met her he'd found her captivating, and that he was enticed and enthralled. He would do everything in his power to have her, and to corrupt what he could not understand.

Her mental state was deteriorating. During her brief moments of lucidity, Sakura found the proof she needed for this diagnosis from the way her mind kept regurgitating the same facts over and over, albeit in different ways: She knew that Naraku would eventually, as soon as he returned perhaps, attempt to make her a demon. He would succeed; there was no way any mortal can resist a demon for very long without the aid of hope or innate power. When he eventually corrupted her, he would try to mate her. That much was obvious. And therein laid the problem.

If she stuck to her principles and refused him entrance, he would suck her up; if she agreed, it would only prolong her fate. And that fate was to live a life as a twisted hanyou like the monster that was subjugating her. No matter what, she was going to die here. She may live on as a demon, but her humanity and true soul would die the moment she became tainted.

The only question was if she was willing to allow her body to become tainted, as her soul was doomed to be. Or she could take a risk, and steal her own life away before Naraku had the chance. Live, and live while dead, or die to die alive? Which option was not impossible to ask, to answer?

She knew which one she was going to choose.

She wondered what kind of demon he would make her. A pretty one, she hoped. But that may be too much to ask for. It wasn't like she had experience with creating demons from human bodies; she was usually too busy purifying the dangerous ones to care about their methods.

Sakura did want to be pretty. If she had to become what she hated, then she may as well be allowed to make the best of the situation. 'Oh well,' she thought, resuming her practicing and disgorging her mind from its repetitive cycle, though unwilling or perhaps unable to acknowledge the fact that she was only falling into another pattern.

'Thinking like that is ridiculous. I will live in order to help Sayuri. My life, that is the only thing I will sacrifice for her; it is more than anybody should have to be asked to give. I offer it to her willingly.'

Though captured, Sakura was still training her miko powers. If she could not make them stronger, then she was doing it to keep them in tip-top shape. She could be given the opportunity to use them at any moment, and they had to be in peak condition in preparation for that slim, slight chance.

Though a few days had passed, Sakura had been too filled with scenarios and escape plans to keep up with her daily training regimen. Well, she had also been also been rehashing the same monotonous information, but the only way to keep hold of her sanity for long was to refuse to think about that.

She slowly realized her powers were not the pale green they once were. They were now… She couldn't describe the color. Even if they were no recognizable color, it was obvious that they were not the vibrant, almost pulsing green. Yes, her powers were once a pale green, but that didn't mean that there wasn't an animated excitement to them. Along with the color, her powers were fading and becoming very weak.

'Is he…? No. He couldn't be. Naraku couldn't be… That's the only explanation, though. He's making his minions drain my power out of my body. What does he plan to use them for?' Sakura thought, her first coherent and original thought in days. 'Any demon, half-bred or not, would have their blood instantly purified if they tried to use the condensed form of my powers. They would be cleansed if they even tried to _touch_ it. And where did he get such knowledge?' Sakura pondered worriedly, knowing not where this new revelation would guide her thoughts and conclusions of various scenarios, and only certain that whatever Naraku was scheming, it couldn't be good.

_What will Naraku use Sakura's power for? I don't know yet, or maybe I do, I just don't want to tell…  
Any ideas will help me. I have a pretty good plan of what I'm going to do, but anything will help!  
P.S. Not true. Not true at all. HELP! Oh, and reviews are happily welcomed._


	6. Sakura: Demon or Miko?

_No disclaimer that is interesting. Unfortunately, to have the plot make sense, I have decided to relinquish my hold on Sakura. I do not own InuYasha. Remember, the recap is never the same as the story. It's only to give an idea of what happened last time so you don't have to read it again. The only problem is, I still have to read…_

The Lost Years of Kaede

Recap: "The girl is no other than Kikyo's younger sister." Daisuke was in shock. This young girl couldn't be the fair Kikyo's sister!

Naraku knew exactly what to do. He was dangerous like this. He killed the priestess Kikyo with the sort of idea he had now.

Sakura realized her miko powers were fading. 'What does he plan to use my powers for?'

_The Hut_

Sayuri was frightened, and all because she decidedly did not like the expression on Daisuke's face. His look told her that, if the messengers had been touting bad news, he would probably have turned her in without a second's thought. She had trusted him, for some odd reason, and now she realized her stupidity in that act. 'Silly, stupid, worthless you,' she thought, chuckling mirthlessly. She felt violated and wronged beyond what was acceptable in the situation, and Sayuri couldn't help but look at Daisuke differently in turn.

Her opinion of Daisuke altered, her thoughts turned to those that had apparently tried to decide her fate. She was not sure about these mysterious elders; what did her standing with Kikyo have to do with anything? Why did they just suddenly decide that she was not there for harmful reasons based solely on this fact? And how did they even find out about that, in the first place? She was afraid to deliberately try to figure that out; each option was darker than the last.

In a tone full of open disbelief, his voice cracking at the end like a prepubescent boy, Daisuke whispered, "Are you really Kikyo's sister?" 'She looks nothing like her,' he couldn't help but think again; though he was wise enough not to say this out loud, he could not help that the pitch of his voice betrayed his thoughts.

A part of her got riled up at his doubt, though she should have been as fearful of him as she was of the "messengers" outside. 'Do I really look so inexperienced and stupid that it has to be impossible for me to be related to my own sister?' Sayuri thought angrily.

Sayuri knew that every day brought her closer to looking more and more like her deceased sister, so it couldn't be a lack of family resemblance, which left her ability or lack thereof to be the issue. Without letting her irritation show, she answered simply, "Yes. I am." The portion of her that wasn't annoyed started to feel guilty, so Sayuri added, "That is why I had to change my name." 'Let him think I'm not mad,' she thought coyly, unable to hide the mischievous smile on her face despite her grim circumstances.

"I will protect you," he replied without even hesitating, taking Sayuri aback. Daisuke wasn't sure his outburst of promised care was from learning she was related to Kikyo, or the fact that he now sensed that she was no longer hiding anything from him.

Disregarding that, he knew as well as she probably did that there was no way the members of his village could have known that simple fact about her without being on an active search for her. The question remained: Why would they care?

He could hear the shuffling of the men's feet outside the hut. There were far too many to warrant delivering such a simple message. It was obvious; they were after Sayuri, and he was meant to simply give her up. But they had made a mistake when they had told him who Sayuri shared blood with.

'I will repay my debt, Kikyo. I promised that I would,' Daisuke thought, relishing the idea at being able to help the beautiful figure from his memories despite her death. "I will protect you," he reiterated before adding, "with my life."

Daisuke made some excuse to the guards, claiming that he was in the process of changing Sayuri's bandages, as he walked out of the smaller room of the hut into the larger. He looked around for something that would make could obstruct their eventual pursuers, but Daisuke owned nothing that was heavy enough, nor practical enough, to move. He had to open his mind and consider all the possibilities, even the ones that made little sense.

Daisuke closed his eyes and took a deep breath, looking and weighing each thing his gaze landed on without bias. He found his old stove, an ancient piece that he had been meaning to get melted down in order to barter for a new one. Grinning to himself, he silently dragged the bulky appliance across the ground and left it in front of the hut's makeshift door. It wouldn't do anything but slightly inconvenience the "messengers", for the door was not much more than animal skin, but every second counted.

This being done, he quickly grabbed a cloth pack and filled it with some goods: bandages, a few ointments, food, and a couple skins full of water. Daisuke slung this on his back, and looked around. A walking stick with a hole drilled at either end for a sash sat in one of the corners of the hut. It could, and in a few circumstances he'd rather not repeat it had, double as a stave, and he also slung this on his back. Thus prepared, he turned to Sayuri.

Sayuri had helped herself into a standing position, somehow understanding the full meaning behind Daisuke's furtive actions. She tried to take a step towards him and stumbled a little, but Daisuke easily caught her before she could fall. 'Her fear-induced adrenaline is helping her filter through the snake venom faster,' Daisuke noted with an awe-struck smile. 'She really does have an extreme tolerance to such a deadly toxin,' he added, seeing how relatively easily she moved.

With Sayuri leaning heavily on his shoulder, he moved a secret trapdoor in the floor, showing her a secret hole out of the hut. The pair made their slow escape down a dark and dank tunnel. It wasn't easy for Sayuri to crawl through, but with Daisuke behind her egging her ever further on with gentle pushes from his hand, she found the strength to continue.

_In a Different Part of the Forest_

His sense of smell told him that the girl was making an escape with the healer she'd been brought to. Naraku could always track her down later, so when he decided to leave the messengers at their failed attempt to apprehend the injured stranger, he also decided to leave the girl to her own devices for a while. He had other, and more pressing, matters to take care of before he could turn his attention fully on Kaede.

Naraku had ordered his minions at his castle to begin sucking Sakura's miko powers out of her body with the new knowledge he had gained from reading an ancient book before he'd left to spy on the miko-in-training. He'd found that tome in the six years since Kikyo had died and supposedly taken the jewel with her to the underworld.

Besides giving detailed instructions on how to absorb the energies of a miko and how to store a soul, something that he had not considered doing before, it had shown him how to safely handle holy powers that should cleanse something like him. He needed Sakura's powers, in particular, because hers were the only color that could be used the way he desired most; he wanted hers so he could shift his shape into any he desired. Then, and only then, could his schemes could continue.

He would pose as the highest elder governing the village where Kaede was currently hidden. He knew the history of this village, and that they had been preyed upon for years by the "Listeners" that heard thoughts louder than most demons heard sounds, and he had no doubt that they had probably already started their own plan to retrieve the Sacred jewel. All he would do would be to speed their plans up by a considerable amount.

Naraku would seize the jewel in the chaos the villagers provided. He'd then be free to do what he liked with both the girl and the jewel. Even if he were unable to obtain the jewel, for the villagers were the only ones who could beat him to it, he'd be able to get it back.

Naraku had been taken too far out of his way to ensure his success. Regardless of whether the villagers failed or achieved _their_ goal, he had been put into a bad mood, and he knew without a doubt the ultimate fate of every human involved in this sordid affair.

They would all die in the end.

_Naraku's Castle_

Sakura was all but entirely drained of her powers. She could feel each little crumb of strength slipping away, now. At first she had only noticed because there was a decrease in her abilities while she trained. Now, she had lost so much that each pull the demons surrounding her made was just another nail in her coffin.

If Naraku had in his possession what she feared he did, things were grimmer than she'd ever thought they could get. For, if that forbidden, hidden artifact was his, once Naraku had all of her powers, he could morph them to do whatever he wanted done. With her soul in his possession, and her body melded into one that didn't age and could be protected from unnatural death, he'd have an energy source for a limitless weapon. The miko's soul, not her body, was the source of her power, but souls had indissoluble ties to their bodies when it came to retaining the powers they had held in life.

If Sakura's soul were to be separated from her body, she and her body should die. Creating a demon from her body, however, and binding her soul to an object in Naraku's possession, would keep Sakura tied to the world of the living. She wouldn't technically be alive herself, though, as she would become a tool in the hands of her master. And, if she were a tool, and Naraku had the ability to manipulate holy energies, he could raze entire villages without her being able to do a single thing to prevent it. A bound soul was often helpless when used, as shown by the Shikon jewel from time to time.

The thought of such ability in the hands of a demon was too frightening for her in her weakened state, so Sakura let it be. She couldn't even risk suicide now, because the strength that had been stolen was enough to bring her back if her body wasn't too badly damaged, but also because she'd always been somewhat of a coward. Her years of hanging back had prevented her from taking the necessary steps to prevent giving her soul over to Naraku. She had pretended it was her student stopping her, and that was one of her greatest motives, but her will to live was an equally strong compulsion for waiting out the situation.

She was frightened, for more reasons than just her impending use as a weapon on a scale never before seen.

Sakura wondered when he would come for her. Naraku had to come soon, or regardless of how much energy had been sucked out of her, he could lose her soul entirely.

She was dying.

It was, perhaps, redundant to be afraid of death when there was no way out of the situation she was in but to die physically or morally. Her miko powers were what kept her alive all these years, beyond the standard use in altercations with demons. She had a disease that only her divine powers could treat, but the sickness was so great that it couldn't be cured even with the cleansing properties of her miko ability. Her blindness was, in fact, a symptom of this illness. The disease was so powerful that healthy, grown men who caught it died in days. So if her powers left her, she would not have long to live.

Kaede still depended on her, but there was no way for Sakura to find her way back to her now. The illness, sensing the weakness in her powers, was raging through her body in an unprecedented attack. Sakura was simply too frail to summon up the agility needed to escape.

If she died of natural causes, her absorbed powers could do nothing to heal the damage. However, Naraku could still bring her back as a demon using the artifact, but the skill the book described was meant to be used on a living human, and there was no telling what would happen if they tried to circumvent that. Any number of unexpected events could happen, and Naraku could and most probably would lose both her soul and the long-term use of her drained powers.

She could sense his attention; she knew he was coming. Perhaps not immediately, but he was coming for her. Her judgment day would arrive when he asked her to decide her fate, for she knew Naraku well enough by now to understand:

He'd cruelly give her the choice to become a demon, or die.

_A/N I would like to know your opinion. Please, review._


End file.
